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Stella nods, taking a sip.
“Leah is down having a scan,” she says finally. “She’s all bruised, and they want to check her ankle.” Stella flinches at the thought.
“Do they know what happened? She went out for coffee with Vince and never returned,” I ask.
Stella shakes her head. “Apparently, according to witnesses, the traffic was at a standstill. Leah stepped out, not seeing the courier bike travelling down the inside. She was thrown into a stationary car, hitting her head.”
I pace the room, exhaustion taking hold. I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“She’s going to be fine,” Caleb says, handing me a coffee.
I hadn’t even noticed he’d left.
“What’s taking so long?”
Caleb raises an eyebrow. “This is a hospital. There are queues.”
Dr Hanson takes that moment to pop his head into the room. “Leah will be back up shortly.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Caleb says, gripping my forearm. His voice is surprisingly shaky.
“Yes, thank you,” I mumble, my head in a spin, full of the what-ifs that follow an accident. I could have lost Leah and our child today.
My heart is racing. I feel the cup taken out of my hand, and Caleb grabs both of my arms, shaking me.
“Gabriel, she’s fine. She isn’t Dad. She’s coming back to you.”
Only my brother understands.
The door opens wider and an orderly wheels Leah in. She’s sat up. My eyes fly to her face. A large bandage has pride of place on her forehead, a graze on her cheek. As soon as her bed is in place, I’m by her side, grabbing her hand in mine, every protective instinct racing to the surface.
“Hey,” she says, giving me a weak smile.
“Hey, you,” I say, drawing her grazed knuckles to my lips. “You gave me quite a scare.”
Caleb moves a chair behind me and urges me to sit.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says over my shoulder.
Leah looks up and smiles at him. “Caleb,” she says. “What are you doing here?”
I turn to look up at him, and he raises an eyebrow at her. “Where else would I be? You’re family. I was also on the phone when Gabriel took the call from Stella. There’s no way I was waiting for a phone call to let me know how you were. And with you out of action, someone has to look after him,” he says, nodding at me.
Leah smiles, squeezing my hand.
As she goes to move, her face scrunches as pain radiates from somewhere. I’m on my feet before I can stop myself.
“I’m okay. My ankle is twinging, and I have the mother-of-all headaches, but I’m okay. Baby is fine, too.”
I sit back in my chair and drop my forehead to her hand.
“What happened?” I ask.
“I left Vince in the coffee shop and was walking back to the office. I wasn’t concentrating and stepped out. The poor cyclist,” she says, earning a scowl from me.
“He shouldn’t have been weaving in and out,” I say, unhappy she’s sticking up for the person who put her in the hospital.
“That’s what they do. He’s only doing his job. I’m the numpty who stepped out. Luckily, no actual harm was done,” she says, cupping my cheek.
